Search - Gerard Grisey, Emilio Pomarico, Walter Nußbaum :: Grisey: Le Temps et l'Écume; Les Chants de l'Amour

Two quite contrasting works from Grisey's mature output

Christopher Culver | 05/15/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Kairos continues their support of Gerard Grisey's music with this 2008 disc featuring two very different works from this founding father of spectralism.



"Les chant de l'amour" for choir and tape (1984-85) is a multi-movement spectral variation on phrases like "I love you" and the names of historical lovers (Tristan, Orpheus, Romeo etc). It opens with pure live performers whose vocals are these texts reduced to the barest phonetic components. Then the tape part, a computer-generated voice, drops like a hammer. The two parts coexist side by side through the course of the piece. The piece was developed out of the same spectral concerns that Grisey always had. For example, all the music is based on an unheard fundamental of 5.76 hertz. But it sure doesn't sound like anything else he wrote. One hears something of Stockhausen, such as the general "Stimmung" feel of some more ethereal sections, and the "Hymnen"-like overlaying of speaking voices at the very end. The theatrical of Ligeti's "Aventures" sometimes pops up. Perhaps "Les chant de l'amour" doesn't rank among Grisey's best work, as it is merely fun and entertaining, whereas "Les espaces acoustiques" inspires awe, but I do come back to it fairly often.



"Le Temps et l'Ecume" for percussion, orchestra and electronics (1988-89) is more representative of Grisey's work. When Grisey began work on this percussion concerto, he was increasingly interested in musical time, and the piece has some complicated theory involving three different time schemes (as humans, birds, and whales perceive time). Nonetheless, I prefer just listening to the piece as a shifting series of uncanny sonorities. "Le Temps et l'Ecume" begins at imperceptible dynamic, with the percussion rising into audibility only two minutes in. Percussion gestures grow, but soon collapse, sparking luminous orchestral sonorities exploiting the spectralist approach. The lovely brass glow here looks forward to the music of Marc-Andre Dalbavie. The synthesizer seems to stand in between the orchestra and the percussion. Again, it's no match for the pieces comprising "Les espaces acoustique", but still full of beautiful moments."